Style Guidelines for Referring to The Joseph Smith Papers

The following guidelines are offered to help those who wish to cite or otherwise refer to The Joseph Smith Papers, its component series or volumes, or materials on the Joseph Smith Papers website. These guidelines are merely recommendations based on the Joseph Smith Papers Project’s house style, precedents from other documentary editions, and the Chicago Manual of Style, sixteenth edition (Chicago). Of course, other style conventions and different publication formats may call for adaptation and variation.

The Joseph Smith Papers Project and The Joseph Smith Papers

Use “the Joseph Smith Papers Project” or “the Joseph Smith Papers” to refer to the entire project’s goals and structure. Do not capitalize shortened forms such as “the project.” The term “Smith Papers” is also sometimes used to refer to the project.

The goal of the Joseph Smith Papers Project is to present verbatim transcripts of Joseph Smith’s papers in their entirety.

The project’s goal is to present verbatim transcripts of Joseph Smith’s papers.

She began her employment with the Joseph Smith Papers in 2011.

Use “the papers of Joseph Smith” or similar forms to refer generally to the documents and papers of Joseph Smith.

The work of collecting the papers of Joseph Smith continued after his death.

Use italicized The Joseph Smith Papers (or, for short, the Papers) to refer to the published and online products, including those that are forthcoming. Capitalize and italicize the initial The when the full title is used.

It is true that The Joseph Smith Papers cite original sources where possible and practical.

It is true that the Papers cite original sources where possible and practical.

When the title The Joseph Smith Papers takes a verb, it will be considered a plural noun.

The Joseph Smith Papers are being prepared under the auspices of the office of the historian of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The project’s website is officially titled "The Joseph Smith Papers" but is typically known as the Joseph Smith Papers website. The URL is josephsmithpapers.org.

The Church Historian’s Press

The publisher of The Joseph Smith Papers is The Church Historian’s Press. The initial The is capitalized in the name of the press but, in accordance with Chicago convention, is omitted in bibliographic and note citations. The press is an imprint of the Church History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

It was the fourth volume published by The Church Historian’s Press.

Series Names

In running text, capitalize but do not italicize the name of a series of The Joseph Smith Papers, such as the Journals series. The word series is not capitalized because it is not part of the official series name.

The Journals series of The Joseph Smith Papers presents an unaltered and unabridged transcript of each of Smith’s known journals.

Work is under way on volumes of the Legal and Business Records series.

The official names for the six series to be published as part of this project are as follows:

Administrative Records

Documents

Histories

Journals

Legal and Business Records

Revelations and Translations

Reference to Volumes in Running Text

By full title:

The first volume is titled The Joseph Smith Papers, Journals, Volume 1: 1832–1839 and was published in 2008.

The second volume is titled The Joseph Smith Papers, Revelations and Translations, Manuscript Revelation Books and was published in 2009. (Note: This volume, the first in the Revelations and Translations series, was also the first volume of The Joseph Smith Papers to be presented in a facsimile edition, meaning in a 9 x 12 format with photographic facsimiles of each manuscript page. Eventually, a small number of volumes will be presented in the facsimile edition.)

By shortened titles:

The library ordered two copies of Journals, Volume 1: 1832–1839 last Tuesday.

This review of Journals, Volume 2 focuses on the scholarly annotation.

In contrast, volume 1 of the Documents series provides rich contextual notes.

The transcripts published in Manuscript Revelation Books were verified three times.

He was assigned at that time to review the annotation for the facsimile edition of Manuscript Revelation Books.

(Note: Do not capitalize or italicize volume when the word is not being used as part of the title, as in the third example.)

Citing Print Volumes in Bibliographies

For citations of print volumes in bibliographies, please see the rules in Chicago, chapters 14 and 15, which allow for some variations in citation style. The following recommended formats appear to be among the various reasonable alternatives.

(Note: Replace the pound sign in the preceding sample with the number of volumes of The Joseph Smith Papers that have been published at the time you create your citation.)

Basic citation format for any volume of The Joseph Smith Papers:

[Names of volume editors], eds. [Volume Title]. Vol. [#] of the [Series name] series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by [list general editors named on that volume]. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, [year of publication of volume].

(Note: Replace the pound sign in the preceding sample with the number of volumes of the Journals series that have been published at the time you create your citation. If the series has been completed [as is the case with the Histories series], add the year that the final volume in the series was published. This same example can be adapted for other series by changing the series name, publication year, and the names of the general editors of the first volume of the series.)

Citing Print Volumes in Notes

The following recommended citation formats for notes, derived from the preceding samples for bibliographies, are among those that appear acceptable to Chicago:

25. [Names of volume editors], eds., [Volume Title], vol. [#] of the [Series name] series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by [list general editors named on that volume] (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, [year of publication of volume]), [page number(s)].

Full citation of particular volumes (here, examples are given for the first volume of the Journals series and both versions of the first volume of the Revelations and Translation series):

Chicago and other style manuals allow for shortened forms in subsequent citations (see, for example, Chicago 14.24–31). The editors of The Joseph Smith Papers recommend a short form using the initials JSP, an abbreviation for the volume number, and the page number. For example, page 42 in the first volume of the Journals series would be cited in short as JSP, J1:42. This shortened form can also be used to cite particular parts of a volume. For example:

Revelation, 6 June 1831, in JSP, D1:328 [D&C 52:5]. [Document featured in the first volume of the Documents series.]

Corrill, Brief History, 18, in JSP, H2:144–145. [D&C 52:5]. [Document featured in the second volume of the Histories series.]

See Historical Introduction to Revelation Book 1, in JSP, MRB:5. [Editors' historical introduction to a document featured in Manuscript Revelation Books, the facsimile edition of the first volume of the Revelations and Translations series.]

Individuals who cite materials on the Joseph Smith Papers website should be aware that updates will frequently be made to the site to correct errors and infelicities, to make revisions based on later research findings and editorial decisions, to achieve consistency in the treatment of similar events or other matters, to expand existing content, and to add new content. As is the case with most websites, no attempt will be made to announce or catalog the changes, or to make past versions of materials available. Therefore, researchers citing materials on this site may wish to print a copy of the cited material and to note on the hard copy the date that the material was printed.

To cite materials on this website, please refer to the rules in Chicago, chapter 14. The following recommended formats appear to be among the various reasonable alternatives: